The weekend I turned 30.....{Fish Pie Stew}

Well I made it to 30. Amazing! I had a fantastic weekend with lots of fun and laughter and I can honestly say I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

So now that the celebrating is over its time for me to put my head down and overhaul my lifestyle a bit. I have been trying to loose weight for so long and I always put it off or had an excuse. Time to get focused and get exercising!

This is a new-ish recipe that has become a really nice staple evening meal. I started off by making the original but I've changed it around a bit to make it a really nice alternative to fish pie, It's also much less time consuming so there's that as well...

Fish Pie Stew 

Inspired from the recipe here 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 onion, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

175ml white wine

300ml chicken stock or vegetable stock if you prefer

1 tbsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with 1 tbsp cold water

200g raw prawns 

300g fish pie selection (the one I used had smoked haddock, cod and salmon)

small bunch flat leave parsley, chopped

300ml half-fat crème fraîche

150g new potatoes, already boiled and slightly squashed with a fork

heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion and celery until soft. add the garlic and cook for another minute them pour in the wine and simmer until most has disappeared. p

our in the stock and cornflour mix and simmer for 5-10 mins, stirring often until thickened. season, then add the fish, new potatoes and most of the parsley. simmer for a few mins until piping hot, then stir in the crème fraîche. serve with a sprinkling of parsley. you could have this with some bread, but I find that the addition of potatoes makes this plenty filling. 

When you find a brilliant curry recipe ....... {Dan Toomb's (The Curry Guy) Chicken Chasni}

I'm a big fan of spicy food and I love a curry, I'm not a big fan of the calories from an Indian takeaway. I love making my own curries and my "go to" blogs for curry recipes is The Curry Guy. I love his recipes and when I saw this one I had to give it a go myself. It was a great recipe that H and I shared on a Friday night whilst watching a film and congratulating ourselves on resisting the temptation to go out! I pretty much followed the recipe to a T and I really wouldn't change much about it - I just used coconut oil instead of oil so its a tad healthier, although at the end of the day a homemade curry is always a better option over a takeaway or even a jar of sauce!

Chicken Chasni

recipe can be found here

3 chicken breasts – skinned and sliced
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 onions – finely chopped
4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 x 2cm piece of ginger - finely chopped
2 x green chillies - finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp turmeric

400ml chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp mango chutney
2 tbsp mint sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
200ml milk
200ml double cream
 juice of one lime and one lemon
 4 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander

place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and stir in the turmeric and the lemon juice. marinate for about 20 minutes while you make your sauce. heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. when the oil begins to bubble, throw in the chopped onions and fry for about five minutes until translucent and soft. add the chopped garlic, ginger and chilli and allow to sizzle before adding the cumin and paprika and fry for a further minute. pour in the chopped tomatoes and the fresh coriander. place the onion mixture in a blender with the mango chutney, mint sauce, ketchup and the coconut milk. blend for about a minute until very smooth. wipe the pan clean and add a drop more oil into it if needed.
add the chicken pieces and brown them for a couple of minutes. add the blended sauce and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. then add the double cream and simmer for a further few minutes.
season to taste, squeeze the lime juice over the top and garnish with coriander.